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On the Story

The Perils of Journalism: On the Front Lines in Afghanistan

Aired November 22, 2001 - 08:23   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Seven journalists have died covering this seven-week-old war in Afghanistan. Four of them were killed this week alone. Others, though, have been far luckier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Veteran producer, Gary Scurka, was among thousands of journalists attempting to enter Afghanistan to cover the war. A few weeks ago, he succeeded.

His mission: to report on efforts to provide the people of Afghanistan with badly needed food as winter approaches. As part of his report, Gary decided to head to the front lines. But there, on a desolate mountain plateau in northern Afghanistan, Gary got a taste of the war that he'll never forget.

GARY SCURKA, "NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC" PRODUCER: Hit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Were you hit?

SCURKA: Yes. (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you OK?

SCURKA: No. Nick (ph), that hurt.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's get on the other side of the tank, guys. Let's get on that side, because they've zeroed in on this position.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, man.

ANNOUNCER: The questions you hear are from cameraman Keith Stone (ph).

SCURKA: A chunk of my leg is burned (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll just wrap you up first.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gary, you just got hit by a tank shell. What the hell did that feel like?

SCURKA: Nothing I've ever felt before, a tornado and I felt the pain, and I looked down and there was the blood and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) for a second for I knew to get the hell out of the.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, do you think it's serious, or are you OK?

SCURKA: I can't tell. I'm not (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Boy oh boy. Well, you're looking at him right there. That's the man -- Gary Scurka of "National Geographic" is in our Washington bureau. And, Gary, I've got to tell you, we are awful glad to see you today. How are you?

SCURKA: I'm doing quite well, Leon. Thanks for the concern, and the doctors say that I will make a full recovery.

HARRIS: And obviously, you were able to walk after that happened. Give us the extent of your injuries now.

SCURKA: Well, I received three injuries. One was to, as you saw, the lower leg. That's a large hole and a large exit wound that frankly looks probably a lot worse than it is. On my upper leg, I have another half-dollar sized hole made by a piece of shrapnel that exited. And perhaps God was on my side, because in my chest, a piece of shrapnel went into my chest about a half an inch, but didn't go -- continue on. It scooted across the side for about three or four inches, and like the other two pieces of shrapnel, it winged it way out.

HARRIS: No kidding!

SCURKA: And that was awful.

(CROSSTALK)

HARRIS: Now, you're talking about pieces of shrapnel here from some antitank activity. How big were these pieces that hit you?

SCURKA: You know, I don't really know. They tell me that three pieces of shrapnel are still left in my body. They don't appear to be too big, but I'm not an expert, but I have to imagine that the piece that took the big chunk out of my leg had to be at least a half to an inch.

HARRIS: Yow! And I hate to ask you this, I mean, this may be kind of a bit grim or gross here. But how big a hole did it really put in your leg, if you say that what we saw here was worse than it actually was?

SCURKA: Well, the entrance wound to the wound in my lower leg is about the size of a half dollar.

HARRIS: Yes.

SCURKA: But the exit wound on the bottom of my leg is about three or four inches long, about an inch deep and about an inch-and-a- half wide. It's big, but apparently I was very lucky and it only hit fleshy material.

HARRIS: Yes, you were very lucky. And we'll leave that alone for now. That's plenty to think about in the breakfast hour, huh? But tell us again exactly what about this position that you were in? As I understand it, you really didn't necessarily go out of your way to pick a more dangerous spot than any of the other journalists who were out there, did you?

SCURKA: No. And I really want to emphasize that. What I did and where I went was no different than what hundreds of journalists are doing each day in Afghanistan. We didn't find a particularly dangerous spot. We basically went with, frankly, dozens of other journalists. We made the decision, once we got to that ridge, to go out with some other journalists to the very edge where that tank was firing on Taliban positions. And that's where we got hit.

HARRIS: Yes, and unless my eyes deceive me here and I saw that video, and it did not look like you had on a bullet-proof vest, though.

SCURKA: No. Maybe that was foolish and perhaps next time I will, if I go to the front lines. We did see some journalists with the flap (ph) jackets on, but at that particular time, we did not have any.

HARRIS: Yes. Oh, boy. Oh, before that happened, give us an idea of what it was you were seeing there, because you got a good chance to see life behind the lines there. And you spent some time with refugees there, is that correct?

SCURKA: We spent time with the refugees through a humanitarian aid group called Knightsbridge (ph) International and Partners International. Knightsbridge (ph) International was one of the first humanitarian aid groups to actually get into Afghanistan and do the good work. They seem to have the ability to cut through that red tape and work with the population and the government there.

(CROSSTALK)

HARRIS: Well, how would you describe conditions for these people?

SCURKA: Well, of course, we did go to a refugee camp, and we did go to a city where refugees had flooded in to. It's bad. I mean, the winter hasn't really set in yet. These are tent cities. People are living out in the open. There's hardly any food. All they can do is warm themselves by fire, and the wood is hard to find. There's dust everywhere. It's miserable.

HARRIS: Yes. And then, you go out there and you get injured. Were you concerned at all about your fate? Because that's the kind of place you'd have to go back to to get some medical help.

SCURKA: Well, that's exactly right. It took about an hour and a half to leave that hillside and make it to a clinic. I must say, the colleagues I was with, the journalists -- you know, one thing I think is really important, they are in the line of fire. And that tank was targeted by the Taliban. And at any second, after I got hit, another shell could have landed right on top of us. Nobody ran. Nobody panicked. Those journalists, all they could think about was helping me.

HARRIS: Yes. And can you understand, though, those who would say that, you know, perhaps that you guys get what you deserve if you happen to go in there? If you're going to stick your finger in the eye of the tiger, and then if you get bitten, so be it, you know. And are you not surprised that this doesn't happen more often where more journalists get injured like this?

SCURKA: You know, I am surprised, because just two days earlier, some of the people that we went to the ridge with, they were involved in a mortar attack on top of that ridge. No one got injured, but the risk was still there, and they were taking it.

HARRIS: Boy! And you know, you're not -- as I understand it, you're not what you would call a combat journalist. I mean, we do have people that do that pretty much for a living. But now, that you've actually been in combat, would you do it again?

SCURKA: Well, as you can imagine, it was terrifying. But absolutely, yes I would. And I'm sure I could speak for 99 percent of the journalists over there, it's a job that has to be done. They're bringing back the information. It needs to be brought back. They're the people that can do it, and they're doing it. And they'll keep going back and (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

HARRIS: Yes, and some how, some day, some way, somebody is going to have to explain to the rest of us mortals how people like that do that kind of a job. Those are really some kind of special people, and you've just joined their ranks.

Gary Scurka, we sure do thank you very much for your time and glad to see you. And I hope you have a very happy Thanksgiving, and you've got a lot to be thankful for, that's for sure.

SCURKA: Yes, I do. Thank you, Leon.

HARRIS: Take care, buddy -- we'll see you later on.

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